About three minutes before class ends, teachers pass out blue paper towels, which they use to spray desks and chairs with a cleaning solution in a pesticide dispenser.

      Students wipe off the spray and germs with their paper towel…. or five paper towels if the teacher accidentally hits the lock on the dispenser.

      Afterwards, students can either walk up to the trashcan and throw away their paper towel, or they can engage in the sport taking over Highlands High School: trashketball.

      In trashketball, students stand a distance away from the trash bin and try to throw a piece of trash into the bin. 

     In the past, scraps of paper, old worksheets, and unwanted materials were thrown across the room into the wastebasket. However, as over 7,000 paper towels are being used every school day, opportunities to hurl garbage through the classroom have been greatly increased.

     Students play trashketball in order to bring entertainment to an otherwise boring task.

      Freshman Carter Frimming commented, “It’s more fun than just throwing it into the trash.”

      Based on a survey taken by 72 students about whether or not they throw their paper towels into the trash, it turned out that most students do. In this survey, 61.1% said “yes,” 23.6% said “sometimes,” and 15.3% said “no.”

       While some may be better at trashketball than others, not much skill is required to participate.

      As for tips, freshman Brayden Taft said, “Just aim and throw.”

      Junior Helen Halbauer added a few tips as well, saying, “Be good. Have skill.”

      According to the survey, of the students who claimed they played trashketball, 29% said they always make the “basket,” 45.2% said they make it most of the time, 19.4% said they sometimes make it, 4.8% said they only make it occasionally, and 1.6% said they never make it. 

     Hopefully Halbauer’s advice helps the 1.6% to finally make that perfect shot.